Today's Special: June 14-20th

I guess I could do an update on my earlier post, but I don't know how often you people look at my old recipe stuff, so I'll do it here. Just so you know, the falafel actually turned out really well. The dough was a bit softer than I thought it'd be but I used a cookie scoop to form them and it worked great. For some reason my brain didn't click that falafel is a middle eastern food and tzatziki is Greek yogurt sauce, but you know, falafel in greek pitas covered in tzatziki was really good! So chalk one up for happy accidents. The mushroom & barley soup was also good, although I did sub a jar of mixed mushrooms for the dried ones because they didn't have them at Wally World and I was too lazy to go looking for them.

Sunday: Grilled Pork Loin with Cranberry-Apple Filling I was a little disappointed by this actually. It said to use mustard seeds, which I did, but it turned out kind of bland. Next time I think I'd use prepared whole grain Dijon mustard for more flavor.

Monday: Three Cheese Tortellini with Pesto Sauce This is actually my best lazy meal. Store-bought Buitoni pasta with Classico pesto sauce. The Classico pesto sauce is by the other pasta sauce. It's cheaper and tastes better than the Buitoni brand pesto.

Tuesday: CPK's Dakota Smashed Pea & Barley Soup This is a new recipe.

Wednesday: Tuna Casserole Yes I'm making this AGAIN.

Thursday: Leftovers

Weekend: Minestrone Soup I don't feel like going to the store this week ok?

Today's Special: June 7-13th

Sunday: Fresh Baked Trout with rice pilaf and mixed green salad Appetizer: goat cheese on baguette slices. Hanson family trout cooking method: throw trout into a baking dish whole and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes per inch of trout (thickness, not lengthwise :D)


Monday: Skillet Turkey, Broccoli, and Bulgur Couldn't find bulgur last week so I made it this week. I used chicken because turkey was twice the cost! This turned out pretty well... didn't knock my socks off, but it was good. I'm not sure if I'm gonna post it on Zaar or not.


Tuesday: Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup This is a new recipe.

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Falafel in pitas with Tzatziki (Cucumber Sauce) The falafel recipe is new... I don't think I've ever even had falafel. I have made the tzatziki before though and it was really good!

Weekend: Mustard Lemon Chicken with Chicken Flavor Rice-a-roni and grilled veggies

Punishment or Test... You Decide

Today when I got home from work I briefly thought about not going running. It'd been raining on and off all day and I'd just gotten my new yoga DVDs in the mail. "Stop making excuses," I told myself, "just go out and run before it really does rain. If you get in the habit of putting it off, you'll never do it." So I put on my running gear, put my freshly made house key into the secret Velcro pouch in my skirt and went out.

Today seemed like an easy running day. It was one of those days where for some reason my legs felt lighter and running was a little more enjoyable. I admired the dark clouds and the soaring jets from the air force base. It was really nice out.

But it seems I spoke too soon. Exactly half way through my run, it started to sprinkle. Then it began to rain. Then it rained harder. Then it poured. Then it hailed. I was at least a mile away from home out in a torrential downpour. I set my routine aside and tried to run as fast as I could to get home. But, alas, my weak legs and unconditioned lungs were no match for the rain. Despite the desires of my heart to quickly get out of the sheets of cold rain and hail, my body told me 'no.'

I was soaked to the bone running through rivers of water. I stopped trying to jump over the muddy puddles and streams because at least an inch or more of water covered everything. As I made it back to my apartment complex, I was at first relieved to find shelter under the carports, but again dismayed as the rivers that flowed beneath them were even larger.

Finally I made it back to the apartment door. As I reached for the house key in the Velcro pocket I thought, "that key better still be there or ELSE." It was.

Throughout this whole ordeal I thought to myself, is God punishing me? Is this a sign I'm not supposed to run? Or is this one of those trials that's supposed to make me stronger? All I can say is, it better be the latter. And if it happens again, I quit.

No, my shirt is not supposed to be see-through. Yes, there is a reason I'm folding my arms.

It's All So Clear to Me Now

One of me and Seth's frequent conversations is what we're gonna be when we grow up. Seth's problem is he wants to be too many different things and has a hard time choosing which one he wants. My problem is I can't think of anything even remotely realistic (i.e. best selling author, world traveler, a chef that only cooks what and when she feels like it). Seth's tactic is to constantly worry about what to do. My tactic is to shrug and say, "Eh, it'll all work out."

But the underlying fear for both of us is that we'll never do anything meaningful with our lives. I mean, a career is a huge part of your life. So it would only make sense that we want to do really amazing things.

So, last weekend Seth and I were having a picnic in the park and began our typical career chat. Seth has been a bit more stressed out about choosing a career lately, which is to be expected seeing as how he graduates in just a couple months. This time though, he didn't want my usual 'it'll all work out' answer ... he wanted a real solution.

This is where my memory blurs a bit. I can't tell you exactly how it all happened, but somehow goats came into the conversation. Then goat cheese. Then the most perfect plan I've ever had for a lifelong career... GOAT FARMER.

I know. It sounds crazy doesn't it? Maybe it was the Capri Sun talking or the radiant sunshine, but even today being a goat farmer sounds pretty great. I'll break down the whole plan.

So, we'd start out with a couple goats. And we'd both keep our day jobs. We'd have a little house on a decent piece of land where we could have a big garden and have a nice pasture for our goats. I think they'd have to be milk goats though... you know why? Because the other part of the plan is that I would develop the most delicious goat cheese in all the land. I'd get a small booth at the farmer's market and sell my savory cheeses to the tree-huggers and foodies that love that kind of crap. Tree-huggers and foodies pay good money for local fancy 'artisan' stuff. I would know, I'm one of them.

As the years go by we get more and more goats and sell more and more cheese and I develop my talents as a cheese chef and branch out into other things like yogurt and soap. Seth helps with the goats too, because he thinks goats are cool like I do, but he specializes in growing organic produce in his giant vegetable garden. He also grows fresh herbs which I use as ingredients in my cheese.

Neither of us have ever milked a goat, or made cheese or had a huge garden. But, it sounded really fun. I don't think we'd ever want it to turn into a huge goat farm corporation, just a mom and pop sort of thing that we do because we like it. I know something like that would take a lot of work and time and planning, but somehow I know, it'll all work out.

This Counts, Right?

I decided that I needed a confidence booster to keep me on track with my War and Peace. It's hard reading forever and still feeling like you have so much left. I was beginning to feel like I wasn't accomplishing anything.

I needed to finish a book. Any book. I needed a short break from War and Peace that would refresh my initiative and drive to finish about 1000 more pages. Sigh. So, I went to the book shelf and scanned the available selection.

When I was about 8 years old, I got a box set of classic children's books for Christmas. I actually remember opening the set of books because I'd purposely saved it as the last gift I would open. It was a really heavy present so I was excited to open it. To be honest I was a bit disappointed when I tore off the wrapping paper and stared down at a set of about 12 classic novels. Books. I set them aside with all my other gifts and feigned excitement anyway.

I don't know if I read any of those books as a kid. To me the writing looked really small, like it would take me forever to finish just one. I was a bit overwhelmed, so I just didn't read any of them. I kept them on my bookshelf to look at and feel guilty about for years and years. I still have all those books today. I hate to admit that I still haven't read all of them. In fact, I think I've only read one. White Fang. But I have a goal to read every single one of those books. There really are some good classics in there.... Call of the Wild, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Swiss Family Robinson, etc.

So as I was standing there looking at my bookshelf for an easy read, I saw the book "The Little Lame Prince" by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. It was one of the books that came from the box set. I picked up the book and scanned the pages. It was short... 100 pages. The words looked big (well, compared to War and Peace). Bingo. We have a winner.

I read The Little Lame Prince in about 2 reading sessions. I was actually quite entertained by it! I really liked it! It had a good moral and was easy and enjoyable to read. And best of all, I finished it! It's easy to accomplish your goals when the bar is set really low. That's my secret.

I guess in conclusion I will just say two things: The Little Lame Prince was a good book. I recommend it. And... if you're getting discouraged accomplishing a big goal, accomplish a really easy little one for a quick boost.

So I'm Obsessed

So I'm obsessed with running stuff now. I debated whether or not to post this based on the fact that most of you probably don't give a crap about running, but I REALLY wanted to tell everyone about something really awesome! Note: If you are a man, this probably will be of no interest to you... then again, you never know...

So the other day when I was researching all the different 5k races, I came upon one called the "Skirt Chasers 5k." I thought it sounded kind of funny so I clicked on the link. Apparently there's this company called Skirt Sports that makes skirt-type running shorts. For their race they have the girls start a couple minutes before the guys so it looks like the guys are chasing after them. Don't worry, it was a family friendly race that was supposed to be funny... not a perverted mobile meat market. Unfortunately the race was in Colorado, so we didn't sign up for that one. BUT, I did think the skirt idea was extremely cute, so I started checking into them on the Internets. Plus, the shorts I'd been wearing kept bunching up in between my thighs as I'd run and it was really annoying and uncomfortable. I thought the skirt would be a great solution.

Apparently those skirts usually run between $30-$55 each. Yikes. Way too pricey for me. Not that I wouldn't fork out the dough if I had it, but I don't, so I had to find another way to get my mitts on some.

So I noticed that the Skirt Sports website had a link to their outlet store so I clicked my way over to it and browsed around. They didn't have much available, but somehow, I ended up finding some I liked and they were MY SIZE! Only one size left and it was mine! That NEVER happens! And here's the best part.... they were only $10! Wahoo! So I got 4. 3 of These in black, pink and blue, and 1 of These in Flirtini... or pink.

I was a little worried about 2 things: #1 That they wouldn't fit- I haven't had very good luck ordering clothes online and their sizing charts were crazy. #2 Three of the skirts I ordered had "pantie" type shorts sewn in instead of regular shorts. I wasn't sure I'd feel comfortable wearing them. Click here to see descriptions of the different "inserts" available under the skirts. (I got 3 pairs with "Spankies"... not to be confused with Skankies and 1 pair with "Shorties")

But, flash to today. I picked up my UPS package from the apartment office and went right home to try on my new running skirts. SURPRISE! They all fit me perfectly and were so comfortable! But, how are they for running you ask? Even awesomer than I thought they'd be! I was daring and wore the pantie-type skirt and went outside for my jog. It was a very windy, gusty day. Not the best day to go out wearing a short skirt with panties underneath. But they were very light and not as hot as my spandex shorts/running shorts combo I had been wearing. Much more breathable. And I didn't have a single "Marilyn Monroe" incident. I didn't feel self-conscious or uncomfortable at all. They passed the test with flying colors!

Oh and another great thing about the skirts is they all have built in hidden pockets. Three of the skirts have a Velcro pocket on the backside and the other skirt has a pocket for an ipod built into the shorts (and there's even a hole in the skirt for the cord to come out!). So now I won't have to carry my house key in my hand when I run. Yea!

So I know you're all dying to see how hot I look in my skirts, so I'll give you a sneak peak at one of the pink ones.

Not bad eh?

p.s. In case you can't tell, Blogger didn't feel like paying attention to my spacing, so this post looks kind of dumb. Sorry. I tried.

Race Details

So Seth and I finally chose the 5k race we want to do. It's the Ogden Family Fitness Day 5k on Saturday, August 29th at 9:00am. This race is along the Ogden River Parkway where Seth and I have been fishing many times. It's a beautiful spot!

We've already got my sister, Annie on board to run with us and I thought it would be fun to invite all my devoted blog readers to join us too! So if you want to try it, go ahead and go to the Ogden Family Fitness Day website and sign up (they'll send you an email with the address of where to send your $15 registration fee... and you'll be guaranteed a t-shirt!)

I posted this as a comment on one of my other posts, but I liked the training schedule I used so much, I'm gonna put it here too. I swear it works really good. And it's not complicated. For me, running for one minute when I'm just starting out is really hard. But the cool thing is that you can see results and improvement really fast so it motivates you to keep doing it! I'm already running for two whole minutes! WOW! Plus this 5k schedule says it will train you in 8 weeks and if you start training today, you'll have 13 whole weeks! Also, I learned the hard way last time I tried this that having good running shoes makes a huge difference. Having crappy shoes is a good way to hurt yourself. If you live in the general Ogden area, go to Striders. They will do a foot analysis and tell you what shoes work the best for your arches and "stride." Made a huge difference for me. Ok, here's the training schedule:

How to Get Started With Running

By: Christine Luff at About.com

Week one: Walk for 6 minutes, then jog at an easy pace for 1 minute. Repeat 3 times. Aim for three sessions with that same sequence for week one.

Week two: Walk for 5 minutes, then jog for 2 minutes. Repeat 3 times. Aim to do three sessions in week two.

Week three: Walk for 3 minutes, then jog for 4 minutes. Repeat 4 times. Aim for four sessions in week three.

Week four: Walk for 2 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes. Repeat 4 times. Shoot for four of those sessions in week four.

Week five: Walk for 2 minutes, then jog for 8 minutes. Repeat 3 times. Do four of those sessions in week five.

Week six: Walk for 2 minutes, then jog for 9 minutes. Repeat 3 times. Try to do four sessions for week six.

Week seven: Walk for 1 minute, then jog for 11 minutes. Repeat 3 times. Do four sessions this week.

Week eight: Congratulations on making it to week eight! For your first run this week, try walking for 5 minutes to begin and end the workout, and run for 20 minutes in between. By the end of the week, try to run for 30 minutes without stopping.

Aim to run for 30 minutes four times a week, and you'll notice that your stamina and fitness will continue to improve. Soon you'll be ready to run your first 5k!